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I'm still developing some thoughts based on your last response, but in the mean time I wanted to fire another quick question at you.

I was talking with another comrade of mine, and he asked what I thought was a pretty interesting question. He asked what the strategic importance of the ecological struggle was in the overthrow of capitalism. I think he was thinking about it similarly to the strategic importance of, say, industrial production workers or port/dock workers.

We could (and probably should) get more specific in terms of the particular ecological struggle, because there are many different types of ecological struggles; climate change is only one of them. Further, these specifics may help us formulate a real qualitative answer.

I thought it was an interesting question, and challenges us to move away from a moralistic approach that merely says we have to struggle for the environment because it is "just" or "right." That moralism is a key component of both liberal and primitivist environmentalism. Marx made some pretty profound and important points on the problems of the bourgeois conception of "right," and we need to think about incorporating those methodological critiques into the work ecological work of socialists and communists. Those critiques, however, are only a negation, and that still leaves us with the task of answering the above question, and presenting a positive analysis and vision of struggle.

I'd love to hear what you (and others) think.

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How does ecosocialist politics differ from traditional socialist and labor politics? How do we ensure the generalized satisfaction of needs for all, including the equalization of living standards between the industrialized nations and the rest of the world, if humanity can no longer afford to keep expanding production based on energy from fossil fuels?

In 2014 Solidarity’s Ecosocialist Working Group began a project to discuss these and related questions. We publish three essays here as the beginning of a working paper exchanging ideas, proposals, and possible strategic frameworks. We also invite your comments.